Visit to First Hampshire & Dorset Ltd - Empress Road

On February 06, 2011 a party of society members visited the First Hampshire & Dorset Ltd new depot at Empress Road in Southampton

Sixteen members of the society were guided around the heart of the new Southampton depot in Empress Road for the first time after its opening last August. The ultra-modern functional building is full of the latest energy conservation systems which make Portswood look quite ancient! Heat loss is avoided, for example, if the shutters are opened by an engineer, the system cuts out. Rain harvesting equipment is employed to capture natural water for bus washing. About 90% of the bus wash is recycled for further use on the next bus wash. Health & Safety regulations have helped shape the interior with emphasis on employee comfort and care. Workrooms and spaces are well laid out with ample facilities. We were shown the main body shop, trim shop and MOT bays. A tyre store caters for all buses under a Michelin contract. A fitter from that company visits twice a week to check on tyre condition and change any tyres. Air, oil, water pipes were running along the upper part of each part of the building within reach so engineers had instant easy access to supplies of those materials if required while working on a bus. In the paint workshop, an Eagle Autosan (Polish) Yellow school bus 68301 (BX06 NZT) was glistening after a recent full repaint by hand. Southampton has the only two Autosan in the First UK fleet – 68302 being the other one. These two have come from Truronian to be used on the Hythe & Waterside school trips where demand is for these larger capacity school buses. Most work is now undertaken under hoist lifts rather than the familiar pits in use at Portswood. One exception to this is the approved MOT bay where a covered long pit was evident. Once a week, a visiting VOSA inspector makes use of this bay to pass or fail any current buses in the fleet from Hilsea, Hoeford and Southampton depots at the rate of 7 per week on a regular cyclic pattern. In the next part of the building, we were shown the refuelling bays, interior cleaning space and bus wash units in two parallel lanes. Every bus returns to the depot to be guided through the same process at the end of its duty – refuel, interior clean and bus wash. The equipment is designed to suit all shapes and sizes of buses. The programmed bus wash identifies the type of vehicle and washes it accordingly without removing or damaging the wing mirrors! An average wash takes three minutes and now some of the cleanest buses in First travel around Southampton. The final part of the tour included a walk around the open yard which surrounds the entire building like a concrete moat. We saw an impressive line-up of the yellow school buses and a stranger in the camp, a UGO branded Dart which had just arrived from Plymouth, destined for Hoeford: 42773 (S673 SNG). Three buses: 40616, 28/9 are being cannibalised for useful parts before going for scrap. Rows of similar vehicle types were facing out towards the site barriers in Empress Road ready for duties.

All in all, a very interesting trip around a modern unit with energy saving at the foremost in its design.